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Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:20 am
by Kyosho
Stories in games are a big thing for me. It's part of the reason I play games - to actively take part in a story. Some people seem to think having an excellent story in a game is a "new" thing, mostly relegated to the last decade or so. That's total crap. Some people also think FMV games can't tell a good story (bad acting/writing). Also crap. The first game in my personal favorite game series, Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers, came out in 1993 and had one of the best written stories I've ever played. The second game, The Beast Within, is perhaps even better (depending on when you ask me) and it was an FMV game. Granted many people say it was the best FMV game or "the only FMV game worth playing" but that, too, is crap.

So, I'm new to the 3DO. Wanted one for years. Finally got my hands one. If I want a really good story, what game(s) should I be looking to get?

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 2:54 pm
by sneth
Hrm Story....I totally agree story can make or break a game. I overlooked "The Dig" for over a decade, now it's one of my favorite adventures games of all time.
There were times i was really into - Lost Eden.

I had many chuckles with - Braindead 13

I've never played this, but maybe other people can comment on - Kindgom Far Reaches.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 3:56 pm
by Trev
sneth wrote:I overlooked "The Dig" for over a decade, now it's one of my favorite adventures games of all time..

Same here! :)


I'll second Lost Eden also. Great story! As for Kingdom ... I found the story very generic & cliched. However those were the expectations I had going in, so I thought it was okay. It had the comfortable air of familiarity.

The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes is incredible! The story is true to the works of Conan Doyle, and it'll keep you glued to your 3DO until you se it through until the end. Lots of layers to the tale, and surprises & such. Not only is it fabulous on 3DO, I'd go so far as to say it's my 2nd favorite graphic adventure / point n click game ever! :D

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:06 pm
by Martin III
My 3DO collection is still not large enough for me to give a qualified opinion on what the best stories on the 3DO are, but the strongest one I've seen thus far is Psychic Detective. A cocky, loveable protagonist in way over his head - what more does a video game need? The branching perspectives of the story, some of them becoming branches in the story itself, are done really well and make it a good gameplay experience.

Star Control II gets honorable mention; there's very little actual plot, but the setting is incredibly detailed and the dialogue is full of top-notch wit.

Since you like the Beast Within so much, let me share a little something with you: I've never played the game, but I watched an entire longplay of it on YouTube just because the story riveted me so. I later recommended this longplay to my sister, a non-gamer who was studying German, and she says she loved it too.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:38 pm
by Trev
Martin III wrote:
Star Control II gets honorable mention; there's very little actual plot, but the setting is incredibly detailed and the dialogue is full of top-notch wit.

Good choice! The dialogue in SCII actually reminds me of some of the better point n click games. There is an awful lot of back story too to help flesh out the basic 'save the world' quest ... it's a a pretty robust universe, and it's interesting to learn about the various relationships between the alien races, their agendas, etc ... It's great once it gets going, and the ending is fabulous!

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:03 pm
by 3DOKid
Wing Commander III and Luciennes Quest?

WC3 was my absolute favourite 'interactive movie' until Uncharted on the PS3. The story is uber-cheesy, but it's told well and I like that.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:44 pm
by Austin
I've heard "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" has a pretty awesome story.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:34 am
by Lemmi
Austin wrote:I've heard "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" has a pretty awesome story.
damn you beat me to it :)

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:49 am
by Trev
Lemmi wrote:
Austin wrote:I've heard "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" has a pretty awesome story.
damn you beat me to it :)
Where's 3DOExp when we need her? I want a new ban request image! :twisted:

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:25 am
by Austin
Trev wrote:
Lemmi wrote:
Austin wrote:I've heard "Plumbers Don't Wear Ties" has a pretty awesome story.
damn you beat me to it :)
Where's 3DOExp when we need her? I want a new ban request image! :twisted:
OK, I'm sorry. I'll give a serious suggestion:

Blonde Justice.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:34 pm
by Kyosho
Excellent. Thanks for the suggestions guys. Question: About Wing Commander III, does it require you to have played the previous games to completely understand and get into the story?

Also, Austin I've got a great movie you should see.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 3:49 pm
by Trev
Kyosho wrote:Excellent. Thanks for the suggestions guys. Question: About Wing Commander III, does it require you to have played the previous games to completely understand and get into the story?

Also, Austin I've got a great movie you should see.
Not really. It is a bit helpful, as the game refers to some past events. Some of the characters are recurring as well, although they are hardly recognizable since WCIII uses fmv and the voices differ. But I think WCIII stand pretty well on it's own. It was the first game of the series that I played, and I had no trouble following the stroy (which really is quite good) I've played a few more games in the series since, but part 3 is still my favorite.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:34 pm
by sneth
Wing Commander III is just a high quality game all around. Took a while to get the controls down, but i agree, awesome story.

Plus, you do make decisions that change the direction of the story. :wink:

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:14 pm
by Kyosho
Alright, awesome. I'll probably just read some wikipedia entries on the plot of the earlier games then.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 9:58 pm
by Trev
Kyosho wrote:Alright, awesome. I'll probably just read some wikipedia entries on the plot of the earlier games then.

3DO also has 'Super Wing Commander' which is an enhanced version of the first game It can give you some backstory & introduce you to some of the key characters.

It isn't nearly as good as WCIII though. It's also brutally difficult imo ... which isn't to say WCIII was easy, but it's beatable ... I've still never beaten Super WC.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:16 pm
by 3DO Experience
And no one has mentioned Killing Time?

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:37 pm
by andybthedj
Killing Time and WCIII are definately my two favs. As far as understanding WCIII, you could just watch the god awful Wing Commander movie that came out awhile back. Psychic Detective is another fav of mine. I had heard somewhere that there were plans to do more of those back in the day.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:22 pm
by Trev
andybthedj wrote:As far as understanding WCIII, you could just watch the god awful Wing Commander movie that came out awhile back.
It will really make you appreciate how good the acting is in the WCIII fmv cutscenes. :wink:

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 3:41 am
by Kyosho
Martin III wrote:Since you like the Beast Within so much, let me share a little something with you: I've never played the game, but I watched an entire longplay of it on YouTube just because the story riveted me so. I later recommended this longplay to my sister, a non-gamer who was studying German, and she says she loved it too.
I completely forgot that I wanted to respond to this. If you guys liked just watching a longplay of it, you should check out the novelization. It's a bit pricey as it's kinda rare, but it's worth it. It's even better than the game. At least, that's how I felt when I finally got my hands on it. You can get it anywhere from $20 to $30 now (don't quote me on this, but I suspect some company found a big box of them somewhere). It used to go for minimum $40 used. It really is fantastic, and written by the main writer/designer of the games.

She did a novelization of the first game (Sins of the Fathers) prior to that, and it's decent, but not quite as good. The book for the first game is almost a step by step telling of the game. You could almost use it as a walkthrough. The main difference being you get to hear more of what Gabriel's thinking. Also, without spoilers, a certain elevator is turned into a staircase in the book. I have no idea why. It's much less cool. Anyways, it's still good though, and in fact I've gotten friends to read it who aren't gamers just so they know why I'm so obsessed. However, when she wrote the book for The Beast Within, she decided to take a different approach and expand on things a bit. Which is what makes it better than the game in some ways. Though the first time I finished the book, I immediately booted up the game and played it straight through. I'm weird.

It's just a shame she was never able to write a book for GK3. If she had, and it had gotten around enough, I think it could've been the Da Vinci Code before the Da Vinci Code existed. As far as, tackling similar themes and being sort of a "revelation" to some people.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:55 pm
by Martin III
Kyosho wrote:It's just a shame she was never able to write a book for GK3. If she had, and it had gotten around enough, I think it could've been the Da Vinci Code before the Da Vinci Code existed. As far as, tackling similar themes and being sort of a "revelation" to some people.
I doubt the format of the story would have made any difference. In particular, going from video game to book would have done no good for its chances. For the past couple decades, people who read fiction have been so small in number that in essence the only way a novel can be a major commercial success is by pure fluke.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 11:16 pm
by Kyosho
Well.. I think the marketing of the publisher plays a big role. And whether or not the publisher itself is a big name. And who they're able to get the book to and actually convince them to read it/review it. On top of all of that stuff, the tipping point the Da Vinci Code specifically had was the Holy Blood/Holy Grail concept in a form that was consumable by the masses. Which surprised or "shocked" most people, who had never heard of the theory before. It's a story which I think GK3 did better. But GK3 was an adventure game at a time when adventure games were sort of dying out. Also it became known for one really stupid puzzle, and from then on was only really ever mentioned jokingly in reference to that puzzle. Which is a shame. Fantastic game.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:03 am
by NikeX
Yes, Killing Time. And Dr. Hauzer, because they are similiar.

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:12 pm
by Trev
NikeX wrote:Yes, Killing Time. And Dr. Hauzer, because they are similiar.
Killing Tima & Dr. Hauzer are pretty different games ... what similarities did you mean?

Re: Best story on the 3DO?

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:58 pm
by NikeX
Story. In KT I search for Egyptian artifact and a woman and in DH I search for an archeologist. I think this is very similiar.
I like DH more.
I think if KT would be like Exhumed (Power Slave) on Saturn it would have been a Killer Application. It was so fast
and never slowed down. Much fun! And also: Egyptian.